Thin Mints in Cyberspace

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Thin Mints in Cyberspace

During January through April – when most U.S. Girl Scout troops conduct their annual cookie drive – it seems hard to find a place where the sugary concoctions aren't being sold.

They're at the mall. Stacked in front of the local supermarket. Even hawked the old-fashioned way, by door-to door visits from a green-uniformed sales rep.

And now, as scouts and parents of scouts grapple with safety fears and busy schedules, they're increasingly turning up in a new place: the e-mail inbox.

"In today's environment, you're not going to send your kid out to go door-to-door in your neighborhood without your supervision," said Beth Broussalian of Laguna Hills, California, one of a number of U.S. parents who have taken a high-tech approach to helping her daughter sell cookies.

This year, Broussalian sent at least 15 e-mails to friends and family members asking them to buy cookies from her 8-year-old daughter, Melanie, whose Brownie troop plans to use part of the proceeds for a trip to SeaWorld San Diego.

Besides providing a safe way to sell, Broussalian says using e-mail was remarkably efficient.

"In reality, I would not have time to call 15 people and read over the phone to them each description of each cookie," she said.

E-mail also lets her avoid waiting on the phone while they make up their mind whether to buy the Thin Mints or the Peanut Butter Patties.

For time-pressed troop members and parents, scout leaders say e-mail is emerging as an increasingly popular tool for selling cookies. And although Girl Scouts of the USA isn't entirely comfortable with the method, officials are not opposing its use.

The official policy on the group's website is that cookie-sellers can use e-mail to contact family and friends. They are not allowed, however, to employ "broadcast e-mail messages" (i.e., spam) to generate sales.

Troop leaders also recommend that girls write or assist in writing the messages they send.

"We don't want the parents doing the work," said Michelle Christenson, community development specialist for Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council in Madison, Wisconsin.

The group wants girls to approach the cookie drive as a learning experience, and not just a fund-raiser, she said.

But while they are cautiously willing to accept e-mail, the Girl Scouts are still reluctant to pitch their wares on the Web. In June 2000, the group's national board of directors adopted a policy prohibiting local councils from conducting any product sales online.

The reasoning was that Web sales pose security risks, particularly given the high fraud rates associated with online payments.

Another concern was that troops with websites could potentially take away business from scouts in other regions, said Mary Jo Kane, director of development at the Patriots' Trail Girl Scout Council in Boston, which shut down its e-commerce site when the rule went into effect.

It also complicates matters that regional Girl Scout Councils don't conduct their cookie campaigns at exactly the same time, and may charge different prices. Kane is hoping that scout leaders will eventually sort through these issues and agree on a safe, equitable method for selling cookies online.

In the meantime, the scouts' policy on Internet sales hasn't kept all its wares off the Web. A search for "Girl Scout cookies" on eBay produces a number of sellers willing to ship cases to the highest bidder.

The proceeds from such unofficial sales, however, are undoubtedly minuscule in comparison to what many parents see as a crucial component of the cookie drive: e-mails to co-workers.

"It's a product that people generally want," said Mark Curtis, who recently sent out messages to a few co-workers on behalf of his 10-year-old daughter, Alexandra, a Girl Scout in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"You have to be careful in a workplace. But for something like Girl Scout cookies, where there's an overwhelming demand, I think it's OK," he said.